“Paul Feig’s “The Heat” is often amusing, though it doesn’t work as a buddy movie because Sandra Bullock’s character is so bland that Melissa McCarthy has to do all the heavy lifting.”

Part of me was wondering if the reason I didn’t enjoy “The Heat” as nearly as much as I would have liked to – there are laughs, but oftentimes I felt a little weird afterward – was that the leads are both women.

Not that I am misogynistic, after all I refuse to take a position on abortion because I lack a uterus, but the world being the way it is, I sometimes need to check things out.

So I decided to compare Melissa McCarthy’s performance to Eddie Murphy’s in “48 Hours” and “Trading Places” – at the time another up-and-coming comedic actor – directed by Walter Hill and John Landis.

What I noticed is that I was a lot more comfortable with Murphy’s performance in both instances, and that it was for three reasons:  First, Murphy – even at that point in his career – displayed greater range in either film than McCarthy does in “The Heat.”  Now, she may have simply given what her director asked of her, but that doesn’t change that her character was essentially loud and obnoxious, with little variation, for the entire running time of the movie.

Her schtick not only got tired quicker than I would have liked, but felt strangely uncomfortable at times.

Another point is that Murphy, despite being the main comedic element in both films, displayed an entire range of behaviors, running the gamut from crude to endearing, sometimes even in the same scene, while McCarthy has ‘crass’ and ‘obnoxious’ dialed up to to 11.

And as I find myself repeating, it may be that she’s only doing what she’s being directed to do, but it doesn’t do her any favors.

And most importantly, in both instances Murphy had a capable foil to work with/against in Nick Nolte and Dan Aykroyd.  They were more than straight men to Murphy’s clown – particularly Aykroyd, who has some awesome comedic chops – in that they both had presence, and were engaging enough that when Murphy wasn’t on screen, you were still interested.

Which wasn’t the case with Sandra Bullock, who is the weakest link in “The Heat.”Melissa McCarthy is overbearing though the energy that Bullock brings is so lacking that the movie grinds to a halt whenever she appears on screen.

And I am not quite sure why that is.  Sandra Bullock has done comedy before – though I can’t recall anything off the top of my head – though here she comes off as bland, which makes McCarthy’s performance stand out even more than it perhaps should, which means that you’re being pummeled by obnoxiousness for just over two hours.

A tendency which would have been leavened somewhat it McCarthy had played a better rounded character.